Praise

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual content.

The Salacious Players’ Club is a six-volume series by American author Sara Cate. The series follows the founders and employees of the eponymous club, which caters to kink practitioners. Each book in the series focuses on a different kink practice and is a standalone romance story. Cate’s novels also engage with taboo relationships, which parallels her ethos as an author. In her own words, she aims “to normalize a reading experience that pushes boundaries and empowers women to own their sexuality” (“About Me.” Sara Cate).

Praise (2022) is the first novel in this series and introduces many of the protagonists who appear in later novels. Eyes on Me (2022), the second installment, focuses on Garrett, who appears in Praise as Emerson’s best friend; this novel explores the draw of voyeurism and a taboo relationship between stepsiblings. Give Me More (2022), the third book, explores the relationship between Drake Nielsen and married couple Hunter and Isabel, two of Emerson’s friends; Hunter is also one of the club’s owners. This book looks at non-monogamy and “hotwifing,” a kink practice where a committed couple derives sexual enjoyment from watching one partner have sex with another person.

The fourth book, Mercy, shows club co-owner Maggie enter into a Domme-sub relationship with Beau, Emerson’s much younger son. This novel inverts the genders of the dynamic presented in Praise, in which Emerson enters a Dom-sub relationship with Charlie, who is much younger than him and is Beau’s ex-girlfriend. Highest Bidder (2023), the next installment, features Ronan Kade, who appears only briefly in Praise, while the last book in the series, Madame (2023), features Madame Kink, who serves as a mentor to Charlie in Praise.